Congratulation to NIMA PATHARDI on his second anniversary

.BEST wishes for it's future progress..

--NIMA NANDURBAR

dear doctors,

we are please to inform you that NIMA MSB chooses us to arrange a CME progromme. it is compulsory to all ISM graduates and necessary to continue for our registration.it is organize by MCIM.

we are invite you to attend the CME.you can register your self by sending registration fees by D.D. in favour of NATIONAL INTEGRATED MEDICAL ASSOCIATION NANDURBAR DISTRICT BRANCH payable at nandurbar. you can email us[email protected]

"NIMA MAHARASHTRA STATE BRANCH should be dissolved for carrying out activities detrimental to the organasation"...Nima Pune branch have demanded in the letter sent to all the local branches in Maharashtra.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has opposed the dissolution of Medical Council of India (MCI) and also released a white paper on the issue following the arrest of Dr Ketan Desai, its former president, on graft charges.

IMA has resolved to oppose the dissolution in its 203rd Central Working Committee meeting held earlier this month in Mehsana, a press release said.

Condemning the dissolution of MCI as an arbitrary exercise of power, IMA has demanded reconstitution of the former body immediately and restoring its independence. It has asked for retaining MCI in its present character and asked that two representatives to it should be elected from the central council of IMA.

The white paper points out that while there were reasons to dissolve the offices of the MCI president and vice president, dissolving the entire body means casting aspersions on the conduct of all the members and all medical professions in general.

It says that the six-member body, which is functioning directly under the Union health ministry, will effectively take away the independence of medical education regulatory mechanism. "A professional body will be taken over by politicians and bureaucrats," the white paper stated.

India on Thursday got its first vaccine for H1N1 flu, almost an year after the deadly virus-caused flu was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad launched the vaccine, which he said was the first vaccine developed in independent India.

The vaccine, developed by Gujarat based medicine giant Cadilla Healthcare, will provide immunity from the H1N1 strain of virus, which is a mutation of the swine flu virus.

"We had no experience in production of vaccines, but we managed to make it on time," Azad said.

Cadilla's chairman and managing director Pankaj Patel was the first to take the vaccine followed by Azad.

The vaccine will provide immunity to H1N1 for one year.

"The vaccine has not been tested for very long time period, but it must provide immunity for one year," Patel said, adding the virus changes its strain every year. "So anyhow, another shot of vaccine will be needed after a year."

Besides Cadilla Healthcare, the Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Panacea Biotech were granted research aid for developing an indigenous vaccine for the virus which claimed more than 1,500 lives in last one year in the country.

The vaccine developed by the Serum Institute is likely to hit the market by the end of this month, while Bharat Biotech and Panacea are likely to launch their vaccine by July and August respectively.

Ketan Desai's sudden arrest could open up a can of worms in the multi-billion rupee medical education business he was controlling through an elaborate ' inspector raj' in the Medical Council of India.

The tainted doctor enjoyed enormous clout with politicians from different parties who own and run medical colleges through trusts and societies.

MCI permission is a must for starting new medical colleges, increasing seats in existing ones, adding postgraduate courses and increasing student intake. It is this regulatory power that Desai reportedly abused to mint money and earn political patrons.

The number of private medical colleges has shot up in the past 15 years. The country has about 290 medical colleges, of which 160 are run by the private sector. The total intake for the MBBS course is 35,000 annually.

Each private college involves an investment of Rs 500 crore. Seats are sold for anything from Rs 25 lakh to Rs75 lakh.

So, timely MCI approvals are essential for a smooth running of business.

The CBI swoop on Desai on Thursday surprised many since it showed he had fallen out with his protectors in the government.

Of late, he had been working in tandem with the health ministry, particularly on the issue of starting a rural medical course. This was unlike the MCI's confrontationist attitude during the tenure of Anbumani Ramadoss.

The CBI probed Desai for the first time in 2001, after the Delhi High Court found him guilty of taking a bribe of Rs 65 lakh and abusing power. The court asked the agency to inquire further and prosecute him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI, however, gave him a cleanchit on flimsy grounds. The probe found Desai took Rs 65 lakh from two persons in Delhi. But in a closure report submitted to a special CBI court in 2005, the agency said it was " good will" money. It did not probe the other irregularities mentioned in the HC judgment either. It was later known that Desai had appointed the kin of a CBI employee in the MCI while the probe was on.

Desai staged a comeback after the Supreme Court disposed of the case in February 2009.

" Hopefully, the CBI will notlet him go scot- free this time," said a functionary of the Indian Medical Association ( IMA).

Incidentally, Desai has been using the IMA - which he once headed - also as his pocket organisation.

One full floor in IMA House at ITO was occupied by Desai. It has a large suite, a gymnasium and a front office.The CBI investigators raided this place also.

Desai, operating through his IMA cronies, got himself nominated to the executive council of the World Medical Association ( WMA). He then got himself elected as its president. Desai had even shared the dais with President Pratibha Patil and health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad during a WMA meeting in Delhi last year.

" There is no doubt corruptionin the MCI does not involve Desai alone. Evidence clearly indicates that most,if not all, members of the council were involved in this and other scandals. Infact, two separate public interest writs were filed in the Delhi HC against Desai for his sinister connection with other influential people. But both of them were withdrawn ( after the court issued notice) by the petitioners aftercertain deals were offered by the MCI," said Kunal Saha of People forBetter Treatment.

While the MCI is supposed to be an impartial regulator of medical colleges, Desai made himself a single- point authority for granting approvals and other such functions. MAIL TODAY had exposed last year how inspection reports of medical colleges were changed to suit Desai's whims.

He had been using inspections as histools to control private medical colleges. The council inspectors - appointed by him - were sent to check if colleges seeking approval or renewal had adequate infrastructure and met other criteria. Inspections were also carried out when colleges wanted to raise the number of seats or add new courses. The MCI panel then took a decision based on the inspectors' reports.

The National Council for Human Resource in Health (NCHRH) Bill - aiming to set up an agency to regulate health education in the country - is likely to be tabled in the monsoon session of parliament, a health ministry official said Wednesday.

'The bill is likely to be tabled in the monsoon session,' the official told IANS. 'It was to be brought much earlier. However, it will now be tabled in the coming session.'

This comes a day after the health ministry openly opposed the inclusion of medical education in the National Council for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), which will be an overarching body under the Human Resource Development ministry to oversee higher education in the country.

Once created, the NCHRH will overtake the functions of all councils overseeing health education, including the Pharmacy Council, Dental Council, Nursing Council, and Rehabilitation Council besides the already dissolved Medical Council of India.

Currently a six-member panel headed by eminent gastro-enterologist S.K. Sarin has been appointed to oversee the work of MCI for one year.

The formation of NCHRH was announced in the president's speech to the joint session of parliament last year. It was also included in the 100-day agenda of the health ministry.

A 15-member task force headed by then health secretary Naresh Dayal also came up with a draft which was circulated to the state governments for comment.

'The draft has been circulated to state governments and we have received a response from 13 states so far,' the official said.

Coming out against the inclusion of medical education under NCHER, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Health Secretary Sujatha Rao Tuesday said the ministry will continue the regulation of medical education through the proposed NCHRH.

Medical Education is now a market, where those who have lot of money can get admissions

Truly worthy students are deprived from getting medical education, in this Bazar.

Those who invest money for education naturally tries to put out the invested money with interest, they are going to accept freebies & gifts fromthe Pharma companies, no matter MCI's Ketan Desai bans it.

Privatization of Medical Education kept all these words into dictionary

2)Upgrade all the existing BAMS/BHMS/BUMS/BSMS colleges to MBBS & provide them with necessary infrastructure.

3)Existing BAMS/BHMS/BUMS/BSMS practitioners should be upgraded to MBBS by offering them refreshing course in medicine & pharmacology through CME centers at Taluka/Tehsil level.The CME centers at Taluka/Tehsil level should be provided with recent advances in technology like video conferencing.

4) Government's job is to provide/ensure proper health care to it's citizens & not to promote the different pathies, hence AYUSH dept. & CCIM &CCH should be scrapped.

& Uniform scientific medical syllabus should be applied in the Nation,

Ayurveda,unani & siddha would be offered as optional subjects,as they have the Indian origin & should be considered as potential resource for research in main stream medicine.